Potentially Stupid Question re. CC Interest, Payments & Credit Rating

greengal

Hi

this is probably a really stupid question but I just can't work it out myself!

I have a Mastercard credit card with an APR of 16.9%

I just received my bill for last month which was c.£1000 as I made some large purchases during September on it.

I have had the card for a year now and up to now have always paid off the balance in full every month.

However I'm concerned that most of my wage at the end of this month will end up going towards paying this large bill and I won't have a lot left over.

My bill is usually about £600 a month.

I'm just wondering how I can work out what interest I would be charged, say if I paid off £700 ''on time'' and left the remaining £300 on the card to pay off next month?

Would I be charged a lot of interest?

I'm also worried about this affecting my credit rating as I will potentially be looking to take out car finance and a mortgage within the next 18 months or so. I will obviously meet the minimum repayment but will it appear on my credit record that I didn't pay off the full balance?

Thanks

greengal

fracturedsun

So long as you pay over the minimum payment your credit rating will not be affected at all, as this will show you account being up to date.If you aren't going to pay in full then it is best to pay as soon as possible after your statement comes out as you will be charged on the full balance. Don't pay it off before the statement date as you still need to make at least the minimum payment that month. (Though you can pay most of it off immediately and just leave enough to pay just over the minimum once the statement appears. Exactly how much you pay will depend on when you made the purchases and when you pay them off.

thenudeone

If you can only afford to pay a portion of your spend, you would be much better with two cards. Spend as much as you can afford to repay next month on card 1; and the rest on card 2. That way the purchases on card 1 will be interest free for up to 6-7 weeks.
If you put it all on one card you'll pay interest on every penny you've spent, even on those purchases that you can afford to pay off by the due date.

CLAPTON

greengal wrote: »

Hi

this is probably a really stupid question but I just can't work it out myself!

I have a Mastercard credit card with an APR of 16.9%

I just received my bill for last month which was c.£1000 as I made some large purchases during September on it.

I have had the card for a year now and up to now have always paid off the balance in full every month.

However I'm concerned that most of my wage at the end of this month will end up going towards paying this large bill and I won't have a lot left over.

My bill is usually about £600 a month.

I'm just wondering how I can work out what interest I would be charged, say if I paid off £700 ''on time'' and left the remaining £300 on the card to pay off next month?

Would I be charged a lot of interest?

I'm also worried about this affecting my credit rating as I will potentially be looking to take out car finance and a mortgage within the next 18 months or so. I will obviously meet the minimum repayment but will it appear on my credit record that I didn't pay off the full balance?

Thanks

greengal

if you are really thinking about getting a mortgage then taking out a car loan seems unwise.

greengal

CLAPTON wrote: »

if you are really thinking about getting a mortgage then taking out a car loan seems unwise.

Why do you say that?